Dollars and Dreams
by AilaAolani
Summary: a pre-seaQuest series of vignettes
1. Dollars and Dreams

"Dad, why are there coins in the water fountain?"

"People throw coins in there and make wishes. They think it makes their wish come true."

As he explained this, Lawrence watched his son. If he didn't know better, he would swear his son was actually pondering his response. Of course, three year olds don't ponder, and Lucas was just a normal three year old.

"Does it?" he asked innocently, completely unaware that his father had stopped paying attention to him. He was watching a young couple with another son about Lucas' age. Their son was bouncing up and down the stairs to the fountain laughing as the fountains shot water into the air.

"Well does it?" Lucas insisted.

"Does it what son?"

"Does it make your wish come true?"

"Oh!" Lawrence hadn't expected his son to remain on the subject as long as he had, but since his son seemed genuinely curious, he handed the boy a dime. "Here, why don't you find out?" he asked, and Lucas walked happily to the waters edge with the coin grasped in his hand. "I wish..." he started, but Lawrence, behind him, told him that you couldn't speak your wish aloud or it would never really come true. Lucas looked at the dime for a minute and then threw it into the water where it joined hundreds of other coins sitting waiting for dreams to come true. They stood there for a minute watching the other families stop to throw pocket change in the water. The other three year old was running in circles around his mother who looked like she needed a break from the child. Another family with a girl around Lucas' age, and another daughter who was a couple years older was eating ice-cream cones. The younger child was making an absolute mess with her ice cream.

"Come on." Lawrence finally stopped watching the other families, "we have to get mom a birthday present."

Lucas put his hand in his father's and they walked towards the mall.

"There's a sale at compushack," Lucas tried walking that direction.

"How'd you know that?"

Lucas pointed at the sign.

"You can't read!" Lawrence was clearly agitated, so Lucas left the subject alone walking towards compushack. Obviously, his wish that Lawrence would realize he wasn't as dumb as Lawrence thought he was hadn't come true. Truth was, he'd taught himself to read a year ago by watching the closed captions on the TV. His mom wanted a larger hard drive for her birthday, and Lucas knew where to get that. His dad obviously did too, but was surprised to find himself following his three year old to get it. While his dad discussed the reasons for needing a new one with a sales rep, Lucas listened carefully. He didn't really understand all the numbers and letters being tossed around yet, but he was certain that if he could listen long enough he would understand.


	2. Another Day Another Dollar

OK this story just came to me. I have a screen shot in my room that features Lonnie all slutted out in her "uniform" and me being former military, I had to think 'tuck your tags in Lonnie!" at the image. Not to mention several other military complaints about her posture etc. so... Lonnie gets the worst day of boot!

DISCLAIMER: Not mine. Not yours. If they are yours, my birthday is coming up soon!

Another Day Another Dollar

"Dogtags, Henderson!" the hiss came from an angry looking cadet with her oversized and hideously ugly military issue glasses. Cadet Henderson rolled her eyes as she shoved the metal tags down the front of her shirt and ran out the door. Before she could even put her foot down the same cadet hissed "cover!" at her. Frantically trying to get her BDU cap on straight, and button her cargo pockets and ensure that she had a full canteen, Cadet Henderson was frazzled and stressed in her second week of school at the Naval Academy.

The first summer at the academy was essentially boot camp both in the activities the new cadets did, and in the way the professors treated them. Cadet Henderson had successfully navigated the first week, which by all accounts was the most difficult physically and emotionally – not to mention the most boring. Now that they were beginning their second week of training, the cadets would be expected to begin going through training exercises. This morning, however, held the one training event that every warrior in the UEO military, and the US military before had dreaded since they found out they were joining a branch of the military: the gas chamber.

While most of the cadets listened attentively to the chiefs explaining how their masks worked, and what was about to happen, Henderson took the time to gaze wistfully at the male cadet in front of her. "It's a sad state of things," she thought, "when I start thinking of males and females instead of boys and girls!" This Cadet Ford standing in front of her was cute. I mean, he's way too into this whole military career thing. He'll probably rise right through the ranks and have no possible love life... but still.... God he's perfect!

By the time Lonnie stopped daydreaming about her illustrious career with Cadet Ford, all of the cadets were lining up in a single file line. Their feet were shoulders width apart, and their hands on the small of their backs. Parade Rest. Stare straight ahead. Don't speak, don't laugh, don't move... good thing Cadet Ford was still in front of her; she could stare at the back of his head for hours.

Hours she did not have. In fact she had about five minutes before she and nine other cadets were herded into the small brick building. "Put your masks on." The drill instructor was barking instructions at them. Panicking now, she fumbled with the strap and didn't have her mask completely on within ten seconds. "Stop. You're dead." She continued fumbling with the mask while the tear gas poured into the room. It misted the cadets while the chief yelled at her, "I said 'stop! You're dead!' now stop!" she held her mask limply in one hand while grasping her chest with the other. "Breathe!" they were instructed. Lonnie simply stood there crying as the tear gas inflamed her lungs and eyes. The space right above her nose burned like someone was holding a burning match to it. The chief was suddenly in her face. "There is a reason we tell you not to pluck your eyebrows. Stings, don't it?" she barely even choked out her "Aye aye chief," before she began to retch.

Hours passed – or maybe it was only a single minute, she couldn't quite tell. Finally, all of the cadets were instructed to take their masks off and breath the tear gas into their lungs. They had to turn around, and take several breaths of air. Everyone began choking and coughing horribly. Another female cadet in the room vomited. Henderson touched her face. Immediately, she began crying. Any place the cadets wiped off the sweat would immediately begin burning worse than before. Anyone who made the mistake of rubbing or touching their eyes could no longer open them.

Finally, the cadets were allowed to put their masks back on, and walk out of the gas chamber. Flapping their arms to get rid of any extra gas on their uniforms, they stumbled one after another into the fresh air outside. It was fortunate for Henderson that Ford was right in front of her, or else she might have run out of the chamber, but with his military baring, he walked with thirty inch steps calmly out of the room preventing Henderson from running into the tree that took out so many cadets before her.

The cadets were taken back to their dorms and given half an hour to shower and wash their uniforms before their chow formation. Henderson and all the other female cadets threw their dirty uniforms in the washer and quickly dressed again in clean clothing. While they waited on the washers, they relaxed just a little. "We did it!" Cadet Logan exclaimed, "we did it and we don't have to do it again!" she punctuated her remarks by yanking the laces on her boots as tight as possible and tying them.

Henderson smiled. "yeah. The things we do for another dollar."


	3. A Dollar Bet

Butterflies flitted in his stomach. He was sure she could hear his breathing from across the elegant table. Nathan squirmed again. He caught his breath in gasps. Somewhere, as if from a distance, he heard her order, "lobster with a side of caviar." It was the most beautiful voice he had ever heard. He ordered a steak, medium rare, and sat back again. He started to move forward, but lost his nerve and sat down again. Finally, he took one final breath, knelt on one knee and produced a small box from his pocket. More terrified than he had ever been in his life, he whispered the words, 'Carol Mae McClennon, will you be my wife?" He waited, holding his breath, afraid of what the answer might be, until she reached forward and kissed him and replied, "of course" He slipped the ring onto her finger silently, then kissed her hand. He could breathe again. He was so elated he hardly tasted his steak dinner. She had really said yes! She would become Mrs. Carol Bridger!

He snapped to attention and stopped daydreaming. Almost every day he remembered that moment in vivid detail down to the taste of her finger as he kissed it gently. Now it was back to his current project. He was a sophomore at MIT and it was midterm. He was working on a program to translate spoken languages into any other written language. His databases were huge, and quickly getting out of his control. He wasn't certain if the project could ever be fully done, but he did have significant portions of it finished. It would be limited; it would never translate languages that didn't use the standard 26 letter alphabet, but it was a start.

He looked at his friend Scott and grinned. "You know this is the technology that is going to allow us to communicate with aliens one day," Scott started the familiar banter, which Nathan gladly joined in on, "the future is in the oceans. All this around us and no one uses it for much of anything. We've still got 80 of our resources and they're under water. Why, one day maybe this technology will allow us to communicate with dolphins.

"it'll never happen Nathan. Dolphins may be smart, and they may have sex for pleasure, but they aren't talking in sentences or building structures. They're a good show at sea world, that's it."

"I'll bet you a dollar it happens in our lifetime." Nathan retorted. "you're on!" Scott laughed happily, certain he had just won a dollar off his friend, but equally certain that he would never see that money.


	4. Dollars and Sense

Detention seemed to be his extracurricular activity. Lucas had, within the last week, experienced it three times. His most recent experience with his morning ritual occurred on Friday morning. 7:00 am found him with his chin resting in his hands, his eyes fighting to stay open to avoid another detention on Monday, silently waiting for each hour long minute to pass. By taking a summer English class, he could graduate in three years, and thus leave high school forever. The question he couldn't help but think was, "did he want to." Having skipped kindergarten, third, and fifth grade, he was only 14. Graduating after three years would mean he would graduate at 15. This would put him in college at 16, and once again, the youngest student. Then again, graduating as soon as possible put him out of his father's house, and that could only be a good thing. In addition it would prevent any further detentions.

Of course, the entire plan depended upon his father agreeing to allow him to take a summer English course. Ever since he was three, Dr. Wolenczak had refused to acknowledge his son's brilliance. He had demanded that Lucas not read until he was five, despite the fact that the kid was clearly reading by the time he was three. Each time he skipped a grade, his father was not informed until after the fact. His mother had signed the papers. It was too bad for him that his mother had run off and simply disappeared off the face of the planet. He could probably convince his father that he had failed English and get him to spend a few extra dollars for what he thought was a second chance at 10th grade English, but instead enroll in junior English. He could wait until second semester of the next year to tell his father he was graduating. His father wouldn't be happy, but at that point he couldn't really do much about it.

It was two months later before he tried his plan. December break he got his grades back. Sheepishly, he approached his father. He wasn't a great actor, but the years had taught him a few tricks. His eyes avoided his father's eyes, whether it was acting, or because he was nervous about what he was doing. With no introductory comments at all, he blurted out, "I failed English." A huge grin grew on his fathers face, and a cruel brilliance shone in his eyes. "I knew you weren't as smart as you think you are." Lucas almost smiled, but realized that would give away the fact that something wasn't right about the situation. Instead he took a deep breath, and let it out loudly. "I need to go to summer school. It's only a couple hundred dollars. If I don't go, I'll be in high school another year, and that would cost you more than the class." His father turned his head to look at him. "Of course, that would make you resemble normal. I wouldn't have people trying to insist I send you to Harvard or Yale anymore." Lucas wasn't expecting this twist. He tried the only thing he could think of: begging. He told his father how all his friends would graduate before he did. He tried to impress upon his father that a year of school, after paying for lunches and parking passes cost more than the one summer class. Despite being one of the richest men in the country, his father could be counted on to give in to economic arguments.


End file.
